The writer, director, and decorating buff on what goes into crafting her stunning sets. Plus, revisit some of the memorable homes from her movies

Almost every decorator has at least one client who wants a room straight out of a Nancy Meyers movie, whether it's the bountiful kitchen in Something's Gotta Give or the bedrooms (cool California contemporary vs. Cotswolds cozy) in The Holiday. Meyers, the subject of this month's Shortlist, is a writer and director with a passion for decorating. Now in the planning stages of her next production, she recently shared her thoughts on why her movie sets resonate.

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ELLE DECOR: So many of your movies feature drool-worthy homes. Why?

NANCY MEYERS: I put a lot of work into that. I see a house as a lead character in a movie. It tells you so much about a person. For example, if the kitchen doesn't have a thing in it, the character is not much of a homebody. If there is a lot of stuff around, and the olive oil looks like it's been used, you can tell this is somebody who cooks. They really live there.

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ED: How did you create the set for Diane Keaton's house in Something's Gotta Give?

NM: It's every woman's dream house—the house that, if you became successful and could afford a beach house, yours would look like. When we were looking for a location, production designer Jon Hutman and I went in and out of dozens of houses. We took tons of pictures and laid them out on a huge conference table and basically picked the best elements. We would say, gee, we love the windows from this house and the door from another one. The kitchen is a little bit based on my own kitchen. And we went from there. We curated the best of the best. The decor had to be beachy which led us to blue and white. I was in Rose Tarlow a couple of months ago and they showed me a table that we used in the movie. They never stopped making it. It's called the "Something's Gotta Give table" now.

ED: People became obsessed with that house. Does that surprise you?

NM: If the same decor had been in a magazine, it wouldn't have had the same effect. It's the story mixed with the decor that makes people like it so much. The house is this romantic place where Jack and Diane are stranded together and fall in love. The kitchen is what everybody talks about. It's about the bountiful kitchen, the hearth, the mother. When I think of somebody's house, I think of the kitchen. I don't know if you could have had that in a French film. There, it would have been about the garden. I do think Americans do movies better than anybody. It's our art form. As a culture, we're very connected to our movies.

ED: Are you a decorating buff?

NM: I do love it, I must say. It's a world I find tremendously fun. I can't redo my own house every three years, so I put all that energy into a movie. I start like any homeowner would. We bring in fabric samples, look at construction drawings. We really do build the house from scratch. I get to be the homeowner without any of the bills. And I get to have a lot of great people helping me. I work closely on each set with set decorators like Beth Rubino and the interior designer James Radin, who did my own house and advises on my movies.

ED: Where do you live?

NM: I've lived in my house in Pacific Palisades for almost 14 years. My daughter, Annie, is getting married there at the end of the summer. My other daughter, who is 24, just finished her first screenplay and has asked me to direct it. Her script is fantastic: it's called The Chelsea and is about a family that lives in the Chelsea Hotel. I've never directed something I haven't written. I really appreciate it.

ED: Are you working on your next film?

NM: Yes, it's close to happening. It takes place at a web start-up that sells clothing online, like Net-a-Porter, but smaller. I like to buy things online and I always wonder what those offices look like. I hope it all looks good but it's not about somebody at home, it's about somebody at work. It's set in an old factory in Brooklyn. The last time I did a movie about work was What Women Want. We had a fabulous time designing those offices!